Indifferents that, all things being equal, should be selected.
Examples include wealth, health, and social status.
They are not, however, thought to be good, because only virtue is good.
What makes something good is that it is always worth selection or choosing, and there are instances, the Stoics point out, when it may be worth choosing avoiding wealth, health or other preferred indifferents.
For example, it may be right to deny a payment from a criminal attempts to bribe you.
However, we should choose preferred indifferents if we have no good reason to avoid them.
It is unnatural, the Stoics argue, to neglect our health, or throw away our money, or disregard our social position for no reason.
The natural state of a human is to want to pursue these things, unless they have a good reason not to.
Greek: Proêgmena
προηγμένα.
Book: Essential Stoic Concepts
Subtitle: A Stoic glossary
Author: Stoa
Chapter: Preferred Indifferents
Location: Chapter 24, Section 2
Content:
Indifferents that, all things being equal, should be selected.
Examples include wealth, health, and social status.
They are not, however, thought to be good, because only virtue is good.
What makes something good is that it is always worth selection or choosing, and there are instances, the Stoics point out, when it may be worth choosing avoiding wealth, health or other preferred indifferents.
For example, it may be right to deny a payment from a criminal attempts to bribe you.
However, we should choose preferred indifferents if we have no good reason to avoid them.
It is unnatural, the Stoics argue, to neglect our health, or throw away our money, or disregard our social position for no reason.
The natural state of a human is to want to pursue these things, unless they have a good reason not to.
Greek: Proêgmena
προηγμένα.